Every day there is more news about what can, may, and should happen in the world of Crypto Currencies (CC’s) and Blockchain. There has been significant investment, research, and lots of chatter, but the coins and the projects are still not mainstream. They have not yet delivered the explosive changes envisioned. Many ideas are being discussed and developed, but none have delivered big game-changing results. What may be needed is for big industry players, like IBM, Microsoft, and the large financial services corporations to continue forging ahead in developing useful Blockchain applications – ones that the whole world can NOT live without.

Financial services are a ripe target for Blockchain projects because today’s banking systems are still based on archaic ideas that have been faithfully and painfully digitized, and because these systems are archaic, they are expensive to maintain and operate. Banks almost have a good reason to charge the high service fees they do – their systems are not efficient. These systems have many layers of redundant data, as everyone involved with a transaction has to have their version of the transaction details. And then there is the business of ensuring that there is a trusted third party to clear all these transactions – requiring even more versions of the same data. Blockchain technology holds out the promise of addressing these issues, as each transaction will be captured in just ONE block on the chain, and because it is a distributed database, security and integrity is built-in and assured. It may take some time to build up trust in these new systems, given that the verifiers of Blockchain transactions are not the traditional clearing houses that banks use and trust today. Trust by the banks in a new technology will take time, and even more time will be needed for that trust to trickle down to consumers.

Another company that may soon be ready to give CC’s and Blockchain a big boost is Amazon. It looks like Amazon is getting ready to launch their very own crypto currency. This is a company with revenues the size of a good-sized country, and they are in a position to issue a digital token that would be fully convertible with other CC’s, and fiat currencies too. A move like this would enable Amazon to:

issue (AMAZON) coins to reward and incentivize developers on any of its platforms
issue coins to consumers to use for in-app purchases
issue coins to game players for in-game purchase of virtual goodies
issue coins to regular customers as part of a loyalty programme
Amazon may have the ideal ecosystem of customers and partners to make this all happen. Worldwide they have about 300 million customer accounts, roughly the population of the USA, and they have 100,000 sellers on their platforms, with millions of items for sale. There is hardly a more mainstream company than Amazon, with a massive, vibrant economy all linked in. Amazon’s imminent entry into the world of CC’s may signal the adoption of blockchain technology by mainstream institutions on a large scale. What could be just around the corner if an AMAZON coin comes into play is the likes of a DISNEY Coin, a DELTA AIRLINES coin, a CARNIVAL CRUISES coin, a HOME DEPOT coin – you get the picture.

For many, nearing retirement age can get frustrating and confusing. Many fail to properly get their finances in order to be able to enjoy retired life and thus, frustration takes root and tolls heavily on the person. being forty-five or fifty-five, very few people are satisfied with what they have saved for their retirement days. The list of regrets may not end there. Without getting an early start, many things can go wrong. Those that well into their forties and fifties are bound to lag behind. So, here are some practical and simple steps to getting really into retirement planning if you’re a professional, business owner or just someone who cares about the future!

Firstly, the lessons of life are learned by personal experience or by the experience of others. Smart people learn from the latter in order to never experience bad situations after retirement. The very first lesson to learn about retirement planning is to start saving sooner rather than later. It’s not complicated and it doesn’t require you to be a finance guru either. With some willpower, guidelines, and knowledge, planning your retirement can be easy, convenient and above all, blissful.

Invest

Every paycheck should have about fifteen percent invested into retirement. It can be a savings account or a small side business that, if managed properly, can become something to rely on later on. Retirement saving goals are great but enjoying less of your income today would enable you to afford expenses tomorrow! Forget about your employer’s retirement plan, your own gross income must have this percent stashed away in any form for the golden years ahead.

Recognize Spending Requirements

Being realistic about post-retirement expenditures will drastically help in acquiring a truer picture of what kind of retirement portfolio to adopt. For instance, most people would argue that their expenses after retirement would amount to seventy or eighty percent of what have been spending previously. Assumptions can prove untrue or unrealistic especially if mortgages have not been paid off or if medical emergencies occur. So, to better manage retirement plans, it’s vital to have a firm understanding of what to expect, expense-wise!

Don’t Keep All the Eggs in One Basket

This is the single biggest risk to take that there is for a retiree. Putting all money into one place can be disastrous for obvious reasons and it’s almost never recommended, for instance, in single stock investments. If it hits, it hits. If it doesn’t, it may never be back. However, mutual funds in large and easily recognizable new brands may be worth if potential growth or aggressive growth, growth, and income is seen. Smart investment is key here.

Stick to the Plan

Nothing is risk-free. Mutual funds or stocks, everything has its ups and downs so it will have ups and downs. But when you leave it and add more to it, it’s bound to grow in the long term. After the 2008-09 stock market crash, studies have shown that the retirement plans in the workplace were balanced with an average set of above two-hundred thousand. The grown by average annual rate was fifteen percent between 2004 and 2014.

Kewcorp financial is a premiere Sherwood Park-based financial planning team which has more than thirty years of experience in financial planning, investments, insurance and tax planning to name a few. Our professionals are industry experts and have the necessary knowledge and qualification along with the skill to secure your financial future.